Treating Crohn’s Disease & Diabetes with Cannabis

Crohn’s disease is a condition which causes chronic inflammation to the intestines. It mainly affects the colon and ileum. Its symptoms include chronic diarrhea, rectal bleeding, chronic abdominal pain, sudden and uncontrollable weight loss, chronic fatigue, fevers, and depression. Diabetes is a condition which affects the body’s ability to either produce or process a hormone known as insulin. This leads to higher than normal levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. The symptoms of diabetes include abnormal levels of thirst, recurring urinary tract infections, chronic headaches, blurred vision, inexplicable weight loss, and chronic fatigue.

It is believed that approximately 1.6 million Americans suffer from Crohn’s disease while a further 100 million Americans are living with diabetes today. These are very significant numbers and prove that these conditions are far from rare. Thankfully, medical researchers are always working towards new and improved treatments for both conditions, and they seem to think that cannabis could be the future of Crohn’s disease and diabetes treatment.

Can Cannabis Work?

Cannabis has been harassed for its medicinal benefits for thousands of years, according to historians. However, in recent years the medical science community has begun to catch up on this and we know more about cannabis and its effects on the body than ever before.

Cannabis for Crohn’s Disease: It seems that cannabis has much to offer in the way of a treatment for Crohn’s disease. The plant is a powerful and natural anti-inflammatory which means it can tackle the root cause of Crohn’s disease – inflammation.

Cannabis can also have significant pain relieving and mood stabilizing effects. This would be of huge benefit to Crohn’s disease patients who often suffer from chronic pain and depression.

Cannabis for Diabetes Preliminary studies suggest that the chemicals contained in cannabis, known as cannabinoids, may help with the regulation of insulin production and processing. If this is true, cannabis could address the very cause of diabetes.

However, these studies are in the very earliest stages and cannot be relied upon as conclusive evidence that cannabis helps diabetes. Patients will, unfortunately, have to wait for further research to yield more reliable results.

Although researchers have been studying medical cannabis for some years now, there is still much that we have yet to learn about this ancient plant medicine and how it affects the body. Until such a time, patients suffering from Crohn’s disease and diabetes are advised not to jump onto the cannabis bandwagon without speaking to their family doctors first. After all, it is always better to be safe than sorry.